The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
An aircraft is driven by several propulsion assemblies each suspended from a fixed structure of the aircraft, for example under a wing or on the fuselage of the aircraft, via a suspension pylon.
Each propulsion assembly comprises, in a well-known manner, on the one hand a turbojet engine equipped with a fan and an engine, and on the other hand a nacelle covering the turbojet engine and housing a thrust reverser.
A nacelle generally presents a tubular structure comprising an air inlet upstream of the turbojet engine, a median section intended to surround the fan of the turbojet engine, a downstream section housing the thrust reverser and intended to surround a combustion chamber and the turbines of the turbojet engine, and is generally ended by an ejection nozzle, the outlet of which is located downstream of the turbojet engine.
A thrust reverser is adapted, during landing of the aircraft, to improve the braking capacity thereof by redirecting forward at least part of the thrust generated by the corresponding turbojet engine. A thrust reverser generally comprises an outer fixed structure called OFS, an inner fixed structure called IFS which surrounds the engine behind the fan, and a movable structure comprising for example movable cowls. The outer and inner fixed structures define a path intended for the circulation and the exhaust of a cold air flow.
The outer fixed thrust reverser structure comprises, in a well-known manner, in particular a peripheral front frame intended to be mounted on a fan casing of the corresponding turbojet engine, a peripheral rear frame, and a plurality of flow cascades secured between the front and rear frames and extending substantially parallel to the longitudinal geometrical axis of the thrust reverser. The front and rear frames are disposed transversely with respect to the longitudinal geometrical axis of the thrust reverser. The outer fixed structure further comprises a significant number of equipment mounted on the front frame and on either side of the latter, such as cylinders for actuating the movable thrust reverser structure, tubes for guiding the actuating cylinders, brackets for mounting the actuating cylinders, brackets for mounting actuating rods intended to actuate blocking flaps belonging to the movable thrust reverser structure.
Recently, O-shaped thrust reversers (O-Duct) have been developed. The outer fixed structure of a thrust reverser with O-shaped structure extends substantially from one side of the corresponding suspension pylon to the other side of the latter. In order to carry out the assembling of such an outer fixed structure, it is well-known to dispose the front frame substantially horizontally on a handling table, and to assemble the various equipment of the outer fixed structure on the latter.
Such an assembling method induces a significant number of reversals of the front frame in order to gain access to either side of the front frame for the assembling of the various equipment, which require the disposition of suitable handling tools and complicates the assembling of the thrust reverser. In addition, such an assembling method requires the disposition of bridges and scaffolds to access the center of the front frame, which generates significant congestion of the assembling area of such a thrust reverser. Moreover, this assembling method leads to inappropriate postures for the operators who are carrying out the assembling of such thrust reversers. This results in a difficult and costly assembling of such O-shaped thrust reversers.
This results in multiplication of the manufacturing cost of such a thrust reverser. In addition, the assembling is difficult for the operators due to the positions.